The renaissance garden in Britain

The great formal gardens of Britain are now rare survivals from a long-past age. The gardens of essentially geometrical design which had been laid out since the time of the Tudors were largely obliterated by the landscape gardens of the eighteenth century but here and there it is still possible to see traces of the style of garden design once common throughout the land. This book traces the fascinating story of these gardens, mostly long vanished, describing changing fashions in design in relation to changing social conditions. During the two centuries from the Tudors to the Hanoverian monarchs there was a steady increase in the introduction of new plants to British gardens and the influence which this greatly expanded range of plants had on those gardens is a theme throughout the book. Scotland is not forgotten, for Scottish gardens developed along distinctive lines, and Scottish gardeners were celebrated for their skill through Britain. There are notes on gardens where traces of their Renaissance predecessors can still be seen. -- Book cover.